Grand Lake, CO

Hi Everyone

No, we did not get lost.  We just have been a little busy with this volunteer stuff.  Nothing exciting to report and too much to bore you all with the gory details.  We are having a blast and learning much about portrait photography.

Earlier this week and over the weekend, cannot recall exactly when; we were off and went for a hike in the RMNP.  While on line waiting to enter the park, we were entertained by this fox on the side of the road.  He was trying to get a morsel that appeared to be hiding under some rocks.  Then he decided to cross the road right in front of us.

 

We visited Moraine Discovery Center within the park.  It had the right length of a hiking loop for the way we felt.  It allowed us to do a little birding.  Just like all the many other places, this location provided beautiful vistas of the Park and surrounding mountains.  The valley seen below, was carved long ago by The Thompson Glacier; depositing many rocks along its path.

 

As many of you may know, our 40th wedding anniversary is coming up on July 1st.  We will be very busy this weekend so our bosses decided to celebrate our anniversary ahead of schedule.  They took us out to dinner to the most expensive restaurant in town, "The Twin Owls".  You can meet Gary & Sherry Dill below as well as another photographer, Maranda, the young college student on the right.

It was a very memorable evening.  The Dills went out of their way to make it special for us.  The food was indescribably delicious.

Today being a day off, we took a fantastic drive to Grand Lake.  It is a vacation spot on the western side of the Rockies.  A 50 mile ride like no other.  One has to climb to the summit at almost 12,000 ft before beginning the descent on the western side.  A ride we had never taken before.  Do you all remember all the snow we found on our first trip to the summit at the Alpine Visitor Center?  Well look below.  It is almost all gone up there thus explaining the raging force of the rivers below.  However, the temperatures were almost 25 degrees cooler than when we in Estes at 75° F. earlier this morning.

Elk herd near summit within RMNP

We traversed the Continental Divide, and noted the beginning of the Colorado River.  No room in the parking lot to stop for a picture though! (Ahhh, summer tourists in the Rockies)

The town of Grand Lake has at its center, of course, the lake.  A very large lake indeed and about the only place besides near us in town where kayaking is possible.  The fees at Estes Lake are ridiculous and we did not bother to find out the cost here since the ride is just too long.  But a beautiful place to hide if that is your preference.  The downtown streets are composed of touristy shops that are fun to visit.  Typical of Main Street USA.

 We found a quaint restaurant for lunch.  "Blue Water Bakery", where we had a fantastic meal.  It turned out to be a French Bakery with a fantastic menu.  We both enjoyed a soup and sandwich combo with, of course, a delicious pastry.  This restaurant is definitely worth the trip over those mountains at least one more time before we depart Colorado.

During our return trip, we found this young lady near the side of the road…..a Moose; a great treat! 

After we passed the Alpine Visitor Center, on the way back, we came across these Big-Horned Sheep.  They were so camouflaged, we almost didn't notice them in the middle of the rocks!

 

The Elk herd that disappeared from our campground, have returned!  We are happy to report that we are seeing them around our trailer, on a regular basis again.